Audio Research Dac 8

[BA2060]

Not yet. I will talk to them about it. I talked to them about the issue with the snow leopard OS causing distortion and they sent a new driver that solved that problem. They will probably solve this one. ARC's customer service is very good. It is just that it is a bad time of year -- holidays and CES.

It is an excellent DAC and this is a pretty minor issue, the mac will work if I restart it until I let it go to standby, then I have to restart it again. So as long as it is playing music continuously, no problem.

[mgard]

Originally Posted by BA2060

Not yet. I will talk to them about it. I talked to them about the issue with the snow leopard OS causing distortion and they sent a new driver that solved that problem. They will probably solve this one. ARC's customer service is very good. It is just that it is a bad time of year -- holidays and CES.

It is an excellent DAC and this is a pretty minor issue, the mac will work if I restart it until I let it go to standby, then I have to restart it again. So as long as it is playing music continuously, no problem.

Hi BA2060,
Could you give us a little more of your listening impressions with the DAC8? There are still no reviews of it on the Internet that I can find. Vade Forrester is close to posting one at Soundstage.com. I am considering the DAC8 and the Wyred 4 Sound DAC2. I was wondering if the ARC is that much better than the Wyred 4.

Thanks,

~Mike

[BA2060]

I have never heard the Wyred. I was sold on the DAC 8 when listening to music (AIFF files) from the Mac Mini by USB compared to my reference Ayre C5xemp playing the CDs. The DAC8 sounded as good as the Ayre, maybe even better on some tracks. That surprised me and was IMO very impressive -- it at least matched what I thought was the best digital source this side of $10K. I sold the Ayre (I'd had it for about 4 yrs) and got the DAC8. Now I can access all my CDs plus downloaded hi-res from the couch using an Ipad. I have a Sony SCDXA5400ES for SACDs and if I want to play a CD (digitally connected to the DAC8 and balanced analog to the preamp). My DVD/DVD Audio player and BluRay are digitally connected to the DAC8 too.

[mgard]

Originally Posted by BA2060

I have never heard the Wyred. I was sold on the DAC 8 when listening to music (AIFF files) from the Mac Mini by USB compared to my reference Ayre C5xemp playing the CDs. The DAC8 sounded as good as the Ayre, maybe even better on some tracks. That surprised me and was IMO very impressive -- it at least matched what I thought was the best digital source this side of $10K. I sold the Ayre (I'd had it for about 4 yrs) and got the DAC8. Now I can access all my CDs plus downloaded hi-res from the couch using an Ipad. I have a Sony SCDXA5400ES for SACDs and if I want to play a CD (digitally connected to the DAC8 and balanced analog to the preamp). My DVD/DVD Audio player and BluRay are digitally connected to the DAC8 too.

BA2060,

Thank you for you comments. I am getting a little tired flipping through CD's trying to find what I am looking for. Your setup sounds like a nice solution.

~Mike

[BA2060]

I talked to the ARC people at CES and they said that they would be sending me a new driver to solve the problem, driver version 1.28.

Also after looking at a lot of DACs at CES (seems everyone has one) I am quite happy with my purchase. I didn't see anything that I thought was better for anywhere near the price of the DAC8. On the less expensive side, the new Rega DAC looked pretty good.

[BillK]

I'd be curious if anyone's had the chance to compare the ARC DACs with Wadias.

[mgard]

Originally Posted by BillK

I'd be curious if anyone's had the chance to compare the ARC DACs with Wadias.

Hi BillK,

I haven't seen any comparison between the DAC8 and the Wadias. The only review on the DAC8 that I know of is at Welcome to SoundStageHiFi.com - The Original Online Audio Magazine by Vade Forrester. Computer Audiophile has the most discussion on the ARC DAC8. Hope that helps.

~Mike

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by BillK

I'd be curious if anyone's had the chance to compare the ARC DACs with Wadias.

I know one of my local dealer carries both but I have not listened to the AR units.

Jim

[SRT-10 Viper]

I am testing the ARC DAC-8 in home now. I've had it for 4 days. I have Wilson Sasha's and LAMM 1.2s for amps. I also have a EMM LABS DAC2/TDS1 source. The Emm Labs DAC2 allows you to also run 24/96 from digital sources. I've spent hours comparing both units. I really like the ARC DAC-8. It has a very wide and deap sound stage and sounds very good. There is a but though. In my system/room while the sound stage is extremly wide the singer is also very wide... In fact too wide. It sounds like I am too close to the stage where my EMM Labs doesn't have as wide a sound stage it sounds right. The singer is in the middle where they should be and each instrument is in place on stage. You feel like you are a little ways back from the music. So, I don't think I'll be changing my system for the ARC. I was hoping I could go to a lower price CD player and use the ARC DAC-8 with my FLAC files. I might try the Meridian 808 V3 next. I used to have an 808 V1 and really liked it and with the V3 you can hook up digital sources and use the 808 V3 DAC.

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by SRT-10 Viper

I am testing the ARC DAC-8 in home now. I've had it for 4 days. I have Wilson Sasha's and LAMM 1.2s for amps. I also have a EMM LABS DAC2/TDS1 source. The Emm Labs DAC2 allows you to also run 24/96 from digital sources. I've spent hours comparing both units. I really like the ARC DAC-8. It has a very wide and deap sound stage and sounds very good. There is a but though. In my system/room while the sound stage is extremly wide the singer is also very wide... In fact too wide. It sounds like I am too close to the stage where my EMM Labs doesn't have as wide a sound stage it sounds right. The singer is in the middle where they should be and each instrument is in place on stage. You feel like you are a little ways back from the music. So, I don't think I'll be changing my system for the ARC. I was hoping I could go to a lower price CD player and use the ARC DAC-8 with my FLAC files. I might try the Meridian 808 V3 next. I used to have an 808 V1 and really liked it and with the V3 you can hook up digital sources and use the 808 V3 DAC.

Chuck
Where have you been hiding. Haven't heard much from you lately. You must really be enjoying that new set-up.

Jim